Meditation Benefits and Your Health

There are many well-known meditation benefits but researchers are now discovering new rewards that result from this health-conscious practice.

It is even possible to change your level of awareness so that you can direct your body and brain how to deal effectively with both chronic pain and daily stress.

Pain and other stressors can create a devastating domino effect on your body organs. Allowing your body to respond to stress in unhealthy ways will overwhelm your natural defense systems.

Without proper stress relief you are just setting the stage for illness, pain and emotional upheavals.

With Experience Comes Mastery and Understanding

Anyone can master meditation, but it does require commitment and regular practice to reap the meditation benefits which are there.

There are many children who now being taught the basics of meditation and this is helping them overcome psychological issues as well as learning disabilities such as ADD/ADHD.

Your ability and performance will improve with practice and experience. Whether you are 8 or 88 it is possible to achieve inner balance and a stress free life through meditation.

You will develop at your own pace and the process should never be rushed. Learning to pace yourself is an important principle that will help you as you discover how to use this meditative process to ‘live in the moment'.

Meditation Benefits over Painful Stimuli

How pain is perceived depends upon many factors, but research shows that even severe pain can be reduced or ignored once a person has become proficient with meditation.

Your mind is clearly stronger than physical discomfort, but only if you have learned how to harness the power of meditative thought and direction.

For many years the fact that meditation helps with pain relief has been a largely misunderstood concept. There were even nay-sayers who did not accept the possibility that a person's thoughts could greatly influence their health, happiness and pain perception.

Today independent research studies conducted at Harvard and MIT show that the benefits of meditation include positive changes in human neural transmissions. Meditation allows you to bring about changes in the alpha rhythm cycles that take place in the brain.

Strong alpha rhythms are the thought patterns that help you maintain proper focus in your day to day schedule. When you control these rhythmic brain cycles you are far less likely to become distracted by unnecessary external stimuli.

With special aids like free guided meditations you can eventually change the degree of emotional and intellectual impact that results from encountering stressful situations.

Studies show that some individuals who regularly meditate are able to develop stronger, more directed alpha wave rhythms. These alpha waves process the tactile information that is entering the sensory cortex of the brain.

Transcendental mediation (TM) claims a long list of proven benefits to the human body and psyche. Recent scientific research has shown that most kinds of meditation have this healing potential.

Your meditation benefits seems to depend on how you relate personally to a certain kind of meditation technique.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

One technique that is highly recommended for use in meditation training sessions is known as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

This is a form of meditation that can be used even if you feel completely unable to interrupt those ‘thought processes' on your own. With mindfulness based stress reduction you can put an end to those racing thoughts that keep you from focusing on what is really taking place around you.

When you allow your mind to constantly wander and become distracted you are unable to control your own reactions and perceptions. With MBSR practice you will be able to consistently re-focus your attention instead of ‘losing your train of thought' and failing to live each day to its fullest measure.

The technique is quite easy and it offers many rewards to those who take the time to understand the concept. With MBSR you can control your thoughts and master the art of true ‘body awareness'.

Mindfulness based stress reduction can be learned in sessions that last only 45 minutes per day.

There is an initial training session that will involve 2 1/2-3 hours of study and practice. You can use a prepared set of CDs that will lead you through each of the meditative practice sessions.

At the beginning your attention will be focused on learning how to identify your body's reactions and sensations to a variety of stimuli.

This training will show you the steps needed to focus your complete attention to the sensations your body feels during the breathing cycle. Then you will begin to focus on other bodily sensations such as the tactile feelings in your hands and feet. Slowly you will begin to understand the reactions and sensations that affect your body. You will master this process one body part at a time.

As you become more experienced in using MBSR you will begin to disengage your focus from one area of the body and bring your mind's attention to another part of the body.

Slowly but surely you are going to develop the ‘mindful tools' you need to deal with stress or chronic pain.

Soon you will develop an intuitive ability of being extremely aware of every sensation and reaction within your body. This will allow you to cope with stressful stimuli by shifting the brain's wave patterns and thought processes to suit the situation.

Right Side Brain/Left Side Brain

As you learn how about meditation benefits and you master over time to magnify those right side alpha waves and shift from left side brain dominance, this is going to produce more sensations of happiness, and optimism.

Painful sensations will be diminished and the right side of your brain will be able to help you control your thoughts, emotions and body responses.

With the right practice and training you can use MBSR meditation techniques to balance your brain wave processes. This will let you achieve the inner peace and harmony that you want.

This inner balance is also essential for physical, mental and emotional health.

Decrease Chronic Pain

For those with chronic pain such as arthritis or low back pain the meditation benefits include the ability to reduce or eliminate how the body perceives ‘painful sensations'.

The meditation benefits of MBSR training teaches how to disengage the brain's focus from a painful area and this allows the perception of the stimuli to be greatly reduced, if not erased altogether.

Identifying and Dealing with Stress

With stress the most effective focus is to change how a person reacts internally.

In other words if a particular situation makes you feel nervous, jittery and filled with anxiety you can learn how to face the stressful situation without these emotional reactions.

Vipassana meditation can be the best choice to get back in contact with yourself, using the sensations of your own body as a gateway into your inner world of emotions.

Using the many benefits of Vipassana meditation, you can learn to identify when and how stress has become a problem in your own life.

If you are already experiencing one or more of the listed symptoms then meditation benefits could be the key you need to get back on the right track.

Stress Symptoms

Common symptoms associated with stress include:

• Problems with your memory
• Difficulty concentrating
• Constantly racing thoughts
• Mood swings
• Depression
• Anxiety ‘short fuse' and angry outbursts
• Difficulty relaxing
• Sleep problems
• Overeating
• Impulsive reactions and lack of good judgment

People who have poor coping skills for stress relief are prone to poor health, exhibit a variety of illnesses and complain of constant aches and pains. Feelings of frustration, isolation, agitation will control their lives.

There are many individuals who will turn to street drugs, prescription medications, tobacco, food or alcohol when dealing with stress while meditation for anxiety can balance a great deal of your emotional response to the challenges of life.

Meditation, daily exercise and keeping a journal are a few of the healthier options that allow you to reduce stress in a more positive fashion.

Better Life - Better Person

When you practice meditation benefits will soon become very noticeable.

With your own meditation room design and regular practice you can learn how to control your thought processes and achieve optimal stress relief. No longer will you be a victim of past events or worry needlessly over the possible future.

Guided meditation for sleep can be a a good way to dedicate some quality time to yourself.

The many meditation benefits, like meditation to lose weight, show you how to fully invest yourself in the ‘present moment' and will give you the keys that you need to become a more well-balanced and happier individual.

Specific, non-religious and scientific proved methods like guided mindfulness meditation can be a great introduction to show how to incorporate these useful qualities in your daily life.

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